


The perseverance of spirits

by Hardly_active



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, swearing and slight violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-10-17 13:58:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17561720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hardly_active/pseuds/Hardly_active
Summary: 3 friends stumble into an... unusual situation as Nina ends up as the host of a (slightly crazy) spirit.Adventure story with little to no conflict





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is an original work that was supposed to be a comic, but I was too lazy to actually deliver on it
> 
> I have not spellchecked this chapter

”Yeesh, and it's not any prettier on the inside, either. Why are we here again?” Roxana drawled, she didn't make a move to enter the building.

”Because exploring abandoned houses is exciting! We need to get some fun into your life, right?” Nina practically squealed.

”It was a rhetorical question, Nina.”

”Rhetorical or not, my answer's still true. I'm gonna look around, come on. There’s gotta be something interesting left here.”

 

Nina walked into the charred building, Roxana tiredly dragging herself behind. A slight glint shimmered it's way to Nina's vision, being caught in the sun's light from the outside.

”Oh! A lighter!” Nina grabbed the item, clicking it open. ”Wonder if it still works… hope I'm not getting ashes all over my clothes for nothing.”

Roxana mumbled under her breath about Nina being the one who suggested coming to an ashy old building, but observed quietly as Nina tried the lighter a few times.

 

As it seemed that the lighter was fully out of commission, with the last try, a huge pillar of fire erupted from the lighter. Nina dropped it instantly, scrambling away from the danger. A terrible screech could be heard, as a creature formed from the fire, abruptly stopping once it was fully formed. A being of pure fire stood floated before them, with pitch black eyes, a mouth that was less like a mouth and more like a row of holes and a torn red shirt. It seemed to be frowning.

 

The creature took a quick glance around the building, its frown deepening with every look. Nina and Roxana were still looking at him, dumbfounded, but it barely paid them any mind as it was figuring out something. It finally lifted the lighter from the floor, where Nina had dropped it. He stared at it for a moment, its frown deepening and red pupils glowing in its usually empty sockets.

 

Until it smiled, and started to cackle. It laughed maniacally, a strained voice, a laugh that seemed almost forced, but not quite. It clutched its head and curled in on itself. It croaked that laugh until it quieted down, shaking and deathly silent. Even the fire that composed its body was inaudible. Roxana and Nina had been quietly walking towards the door, until the creature turned its head slightly, a single red pupil trained on Nina. It spoke a single word in a voice as strained and croaky as its laugh, one where you could hear the sound of crackling fire, if you listened well enough.

 

” _ **You**_ ”

 

It wasn't an accusation, nor a word of recognition. It was simply aknowlegment, as the thing didn't know Nina's name (thankfully). Nina, being the reckless moron she is, took a few steps towards the odd thing with a forced smile on her face.

 

”Yeah? What about me?”

 

The creature simply straightened and offered its hand and opened it to show the lighter.

 

” _ **You are my host. You should take my anchor.**_ ”

”What the what? Host? What's that mean? Why me?”

” _ **A host is like a partner in crime, I guess, though as far as I know you'd have more power than me in our partnership. It's you because you were the one who awakened me**_.”

”And what if I refuse?”

” _ **I'll just follow you anyway, while I'm visible**_ " The creature had a smug grin on its face, as most people would rather not have a demon tailing them at all times.

”Okay, but can you be _in_ visible?”

” _ **I can, but I can also just be in my anchor most of the time**_ ” it shrugged.

 

”…fine, what's your name, anyway?”

” _ **Kenneth**_ ”

”Wow, that's like, super normal. I'm Nina, that's Roxana.” Nina pointed at Roxana, who looked like she was going to pass out at any given second.

” _ **It's normal because it's not like I've always been a ghost**_.”

” _Waitwaitwait_ A ghost?!”

 

But Kenneth had already went back into the lighter. Roxana walked slowly to Nina, looking very tired. She put her hand on the other's shoulder.

 

”We should probably go tell Galen. Let's just… go…” She said as she rubbed a hand over her face, already done with this shit.

 

The trip to the car was quiet, to say the least.

 


	2. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen, Kenneth's not a fun guy, Nina regrets her life decicions

On the car ride, Nina spent most of her time looking at the lighter. She finally asked:

 

“Hey, Kenneth? Can you hear me in there?”

.

.

No response.

 

“O-kay. Well, we’ll talk later, I guess.”

 

“Should we really, though?” Roxana cut in. “I mean, we _could_ just chuck that demonic lighter to the ocean and never see it again… What are we really getting for looking after this guy?”

 

“Don’t be like that, Rox, besides, we need to introduce Galen to him before anything. This could end up being an adventure, and you know what I always say about adventures…”

 

“That they’re the butter to life’s bread, whatever that means. I mean, living safely can be fun, too. I don’t really like risking ending up as barbeque if that fire guy isn’t as docile as he might’ve seemed. Which wasn’t very, might I add.”

 

“You can be such a stick in the mud, you know, Rox. What even happened to you?”

“…”

 

The rest of the ride to Galen’s place was quiet, though Nina swore she could hear _something_.

 

 

***

 

“So you met a ghost. Made of fire.” Galen was in disbelief, but Roxana couldn’t blame him. Nina often came up with silly ideas of adventure, but the last one was years ago.

 

“Yeah, I _know_ it sounds super made up, but bear with us.”

“We can prove it! Just watch!” Nina clicked the lighter a few times, and lo and behold, there he was. A good ten or so centimetres from Galen’s face, staring right at him.

 

“ ** _Hahaha, hello, Galen. How wonderful to meet you_** ” Kenneth slowly retracted from Galen’s face, smiling wide.

 

“ _Dude_ , don’t give him a heart attack!” Nina said as she punched at Kenneth’s upper arm, only to hit nothing and stumble a little forward.

 

“Oh my god, Nina, why would you try to hit a ghost.” Roxana grumbled as she buried her face into her hands, only to lift her face back up at an impressive speed as a realization hit her.

“Wait Nina, are you okay? You’re not burned or anything, are you?”

Nina stared at her hand. It was perfectly fine.

 

“ ** _Hah, you think_ she _could get burned from me? Well, not only am I not_ really _fire, so I probably couldn’t burn anyone unless I tried, but she’s my host! She’s the one person I wouldn’t be able to hurt no matter_ how _hard I tried._** ”

 

“Well _excuse_ me, but it’s not like _we_ knew that!”, Roxana snapped.

 

Kenneth chuckled a little, “ ** _Obviously, or I wouldn’t have had to tell you_** ”

 

“This is like… _really cool_ …” Galen finally spoke. “I mean, a _real_ ghost? How’s this even possible?!”

 

“Don’t ask us. Kenneth?”

 

“ ** _Hell if I know. But now that we’re all together, I have some things to ask of you. One, do you know people called Kate Irving or Dean Benton, two, do you know where they are?”_**

 

“How do you know my brother’s name?” Roxana spoke, voice slightly trembling.

 

“ ** _We’re friends, but if you’re related, you can probably lead me to him!_** ” Kenneth literally lit up, not noticing the heaviness of the subject.

 

When it was clear that Roxana wasn’t speaking, Galen softly said:

“Dean died 6 years ago…”

 

“ ** _Oh.”_** The smile on Kenneth’s face was much softer than it seemed possible for his features to make. He was trying _very_ hard to not start laughing again, and in order to not crack and scare everyone again, he retreated back to his lighter without a second word.

 

“I almost forgot about Dean’s friends.” Roxana said somberly.

“What about them?” Nina asked.

“Well, I don’t remember their names or much about them, but there was a tall boy who died a little under a year before Dean and a girl who was almost always covered in paint. I don’t know what happened to the girl, though since I guess I didn’t really care about Dean’s friends.

 

“Maybe she died too, I mean, that would make sense in movie logic”, Nina suggested.

 

“Yeah, well your flawless logic has the problem that we’re not in a movie.”

 

There was a knock on the door and Galen’s mother told him to come for dinner in a few minutes. Nina and Roxana were invited too, but they decided to pass and leave instead. Roxana drove off and Nina decided to go eat at a restaurant since she was at the city. It was already late when she went to eat and time passed quickly, and before she knew it, it was evening. She started walking home, it wasn’t _that_ far from the centrum, but she was suddenly yanked into an alleyway.

 

“Give us the purse and don’t tell _nobody_ , and you’ll stay unharmed, ya get me?”

 

Nina decided against telling the thug that saying “don’t tell nobody” actually insinuates that she _would_ tell someone. She was grabbing her purse, when she heard a voice. **_Let me out_**.

It sounded a little like…

 

“Hey, bitch, hand over the bag, I’m getting impatient.” The thug waved his gun around a little to emphasize who was in control in the situation. Nina handed him the purse, took a few steps back and took the lighter out of her back pocket, letting Kenneth out behind her back. **_Now, will you trust me?_** The voice was obviously in her head, but she wasn’t sure if he could hear her thoughts, so she said out loud.

“Yes.”

“Huh?” was the only thing the thug could say before he got a face full of fire, and fell over screaming as his face got severely burned.

 

Nina could only stand there for a moment before grabbing her purse and dashing off, Kenneth behind her, though he was currently invisible.

 

“ _What the fuck, dude?_ ” Nina hissed.

 

“ ** _He could have hurt you if I was any gentler. He deserved it, anyway._** ”

 

“What? No, he didn’t! His face is never going to be the same! He got seriously hurt!”

 

“ ** _Do you really care that much about some mugger? You’re too soft._** ”

 

“Maybe you’re just too hard…” Nina mumbled, before continuing it with “And don’t take that out of context, you know what I mean!” while pointing an accusatory finger toward where she thought Kenneth was. He laughed, much lower than before, before retreating back to his lighter.

 

 

***

 

_“Last evening a man got severe burns on his face and was fully blinded, saying that it was caused by some sort of fire demon. The man was also carrying several wallets that weren’t his, and is being arrested after his treatment is done. In other news- “_

 

Nina turned off the tv and lowered her head into her hands. **_Well at least he won’t be mugging anyone again anytime soon._**

“Shut. Up.”

**_Only once you admit I’m right_ **

“Which is never, because you’re not.”

**_Then I guess you’re just going to have to get used to my voice, won’t you?_ **

 

Nina’s phone buzzed. It was Roxana.

 

“Hey, what’s up?”

 

“ _Saw the news. “Fire demon” doesn’t happen to be another name for Kenneth, does it?”_

“Unfortunately. Some dude tried to mug me and I decided to trust Kenneth to take care of it. I didn’t agree with the method, but here we are.” **_You’ll learn to appreciate my methods eventually._**

“Oh, my god, can you just _shut up._ ”

 

“ _Nina, I didn’t say anything. Are you okay?_ ”

 

“Oh. No, sorry, Kenneth’s started to speak to me in my head. I swear he’s trying to drive me insane…”

 

“ _Ah. Jeez, that must suck_ ” **_Hang up._**

“Yeah, it’s like intrusive thoughts, but so, so much worse.” **_I’m right here._**

****

“Yes, you think I don’t know that? Can a girl get some privacy, jeez” Nina said while pulling away from the phone, trying to not have Roxana hear her. An unfortunate side effect of this was that when she returned the phone to her ear, she had no idea what she was talking about.

 

“- _Dean’s death, and apparently some newspaper told like, the exact spot where his body was found. So, since you wanted some ghost adventures or whatever, there’s a chance that Dean’s a ghost now, too, and that his anchor is near his place of death, too. I personally hate the idea of it, but this is a democracy and Galen voted yes, so you’re the tiebreaker. What do you say?” **YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYES. Let’s go find him, LET’S GO!**_

 

“Yeah, sure whatever.”

 

“ _Goddamn it I was hoping you wouldn’t say that_ ”

 

 


	3. friendships renewed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenneth ruins an old friendship

“So we’re leaving right now?”

 

“ _If you don’t have anything going on today_ ”

 

“No, but you should probably go get Galen first. I live closer to the forest, even if not by much”

 

“ _Already did. Say hi, Galen_ ” “ _Hey Nina. We’re outside your house_ ”

 

“You’re- What? When did you get here? Hold on, I need to put on some clothes better suited for a trek through the woods. Wouldn’t want to sink into mud in heels.”

 

“ _You do that_ ”

 

After Nina had dressed up while Kenneth was practically bouncing up and down, despite still being in his lighter, she met the others at Roxana’s car.

 

“No shift today?” Nina asked as she sat at the backseat.

 

“Mr. Irving gave me the week off. Said I worked too much last week, but still didn’t feel like giving me a raise, so instead he just gave me paid leave.” Roxana answered as she started the car.

 

“Well~ at least now we can go on an adventure~.”

“At the place my brother died. Yay,”

“Oh, you really don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I mean, we really just need you to be our driver” Galen protested.

“Nope, too late, I’m coming with ya. If my brother’s become a ghost, it’s my business.”

“Speaking of ghosts… I feel like it would be beneficial for my sanity if you all could hear Kenneth, too.”

“He been loud?”

“Ever since you said that Dean might be a ghost.”

“Just don’t let him burn the car.” Roxana deadpanned.

 

“You heard her. You promise to not burn the car?”

**_Hm. I don’t see how that benefits me~_ **

“Do. Not. Burn. The car.”

**_I won’t._ **

Nina grumbled as she let Kenneth out. He sat down at the backseat, despite being intangible, and was surprisingly quiet.

 

“You wanna tell us how you died, ghost man?” Galen asked, seemingly not grasping the idea that maybe how someone died was a sore spot.

 

“ ** _Accidentally lit up a house. It collapsed on me. End of story_** ”

“How did you _accidentally_ burn a house?” Nina asked, taken aback.

“ ** _Okay,_ maybe _it wasn’t_ entirely _an accident, but it’s really hard to resist the urge, you know?_** ”

“No. We don’t know.”

“ ** _Pyromania. Don’t feel like explaining it further._** ”

 

“Aand we’re here. Let’s go find us a ghost, if there even is one.” Roxana exclaimed as she stepped out of the car. The other stepped out, too, except Kenneth, who just floated through the window.

 

Galen checked the location from his phone

“Okay, and the place is a little over a mile from here, let’s get walking”

 

The walk started on a big path, from where they went on smaller and smaller trails, until they were at a cliff. They went around it and ended up at the place.

 

Nina spoke up:

“So now we look for anything that could be an anchor, right?”

 

“ ** _Well, you three will, I’m not helping_** ”

 

“Whatever, dude. Let’s get looking.”

 

They looked around and dug at dirt until, while kicking the ground to try and dig up something of interest, Roxana’s foot hit something. It was metallic and black with a cracked screen.

 

“A phone!”

“Rox, you found something?”

“Yeah, I think I found Dean’s phone.”

 

Roxana pressed the home and power button a few times, as if the phone would wake up after being dead for years. After five presses to the home button, the screen did end up lighting up, but the light was green and unbelievably bright.

 

“ ** _Huh. He might actually be there._** ” Was all anyone could say before the light rose up from the screen like a liquid and formed a small fairy.

 

“Dean?”

 

“ _Wh- Roxie? Where am I? How am I alive? And why am I so small?_ ”

 

“ ** _One, you’re in the middle of nowhere, two, you’re not, and three, you’ve always been small, pinprick, now you’re just smaller._** ”

 

The fairy floated backwards at the sight of the fire spirit, scared.

 

“ _Aah! What are you?! Get away from me!_ ”

Kenneth, clearly taken aback by the reaction did actually slightly back away from Dean, looking almost hurt for a second before putting on his devilish smirk. The others didn’t know what to do when Kenneth started to tease the smaller ghost.

 

“ ** _Aww. Aren’t you just the cutest~ I didn’t think you could get cuter than you were before, and yet you are! And don’t tell me you don’t recognize your old pal Kenneth! We’ve been friends for years!”_**

Dean dodged when Kenneth tried to grab him, not believing his words.

“ _I would recognize Kenneth, you’re_ clearly _not him! Kenneth’s dead, and you’re not even acting like him!”_

_“ **Hahaha, and of course I look**_ **SO _alive to you, don’t I? And what do you mean I’m not acting like “him”? Maybe I’ve just changed! Death does that to you!”_** Kenneth couldn’t keep anger from lacing the last sentence, flaring up slightly and scaring Dean further. This was where the others had to step in.

“Hey, Kenneth, just calm down, it’ll be fine.” Nina tried.

“Just, it’s not the end of the world if your friend doesn’t recognize you, you’ll have plenty of time to reconnect later!”

“ ** _AARGH! I need to set something on fire… but I can’t! Because we’re in a stupid forest! Why couldn’t have Dean died at like, a beach or something!”_**

“Yeah, you’re not setting anything on fire. Why don’t you just… go back into the lighter to cool off, huh?”

Kenneth grumbled: “ ** _Never tell me to ‘cool off’ again_** ” as he went back into his lighter as Nina felt a headache coming on.

 

Galen on the other hand was soothing Dean, trying to calm him down while Roxana was a little further away, trying to compose herself.

“It’ll be alright, little guy, but that guy really is your friend. Maybe he’s just stressed because he died?”

“ _Even if he’s stressed, he’s acting nothing like the Kenneth I knew. He never made fun of my height!”_

“Is that what this is about?”

“ _No! It’s that I’m dead, there’s a monster who’s acting like he’s my friend who’s also dead, and I have no idea where Kate is!”_

“If Kate’s a ghost too, we’ll find her, alright? And I’m sure Kenneth will be cool in some time!”

Galen paused for a moment, struck by some idea.

“What was Kate’s last name, again?”

“ _Irving._ ”

“Oh! Roxana! Maybe Kate’s related to mr. Irving! Hey dean, did one of Kate’s relatives work at an auto shop?”

 

Dean’s eyes widened a bit. Roxana and Kate came a little bit closer to hear his response more clearly:

“ _I… Y-yeah. Her uncle owned an auto shop called the “Irving’s repair and tools”. Do you know about that?”_

Roxana spoke softly but audibly when she confirmed it to be the place she worked at.

Kenneth stirred in his lighter with anticipation, but stayed quiet.

Nina’s headache began to subside, and she confirmed:

 

“I suppose that’s where we’re going next. Let’s get the whole ghostly gang together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be the last chapter for a long time, since I almost couldn't get even this done


End file.
